When being poor in Seattle was a criminal offense

"I'd rather be in hell, than on the chain gang."

Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow Jul 1, 2025

Jan 30, 2019

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          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>When being poor in Seattle was a criminal offense</h1>
                <h2><p>"I'd rather be in hell, than on the chain gang."</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/ashli-blow/">Ashli Blow</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 30, 2019</time></p>
            </header>
            <figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://player.pbs.org/partnerplayer/Hm_G4W_NczuMkFtUnpKxTQ==/?start=0&amp;end=0&amp;topbar=false&amp;autoplay=false&amp;endscreen=false" width="100%"></iframe></figure><p>In 1872, the Seattle council passed Ordinance 32 that outlined punishment for vagrants — the idle, dissolute, immoral, profligate, or the unemployed — by specifying that they could be put to work. Many offenses earned a sentence on the chain gang: Swearing, drunkenness, illegal gambling, patronizing prostitutes. But for many, the only offense was being poor. If you couldn’t pay a fine, you had to work it off on the gang.</p>
          </article>

In 1872, the Seattle council passed Ordinance 32 that outlined punishment for vagrants — the idle, dissolute, immoral, profligate, or the unemployed — by specifying that they could be put to work. Many offenses earned a sentence on the chain gang: Swearing, drunkenness, illegal gambling, patronizing prostitutes. But for many, the only offense was being poor. If you couldn’t pay a fine, you had to work it off on the gang.

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By Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal